Once I was a gold miner, the perfect career for a reclusive Eagle Scout. Surrounded by nature with no bosses, customers or deadlines, I worked alone in a silent underwater world. Dredging for gold was the best (and hardest) job I ever had. Every morning, I’d squirm into my wetsuit, drop into an icy river, move a few hundred tons of rocky over-burden and occasionally find gold in the bedrock. At other less memorable times, and rarely paying better, I managed shoe stores, drug stores, construction projects, owned Recreational Mining Supply and still found time to write.